God Expects Us To Deal With It

 

A student came into the Principal’s Office one day with a surprise. “Ex­cuse me, but there’s a snake in the hallway.” “What?” the Principal asked. “Yeah! A snake, right outside your office door!” The Principal opened the door, and sure enough, there was the foot-long garter snake, motionless in the middle of the hallway floor a full 50 feet from the front door. He deftly picked it up (the student said, “Eeewww!”) and took it outside, releas­ing it in a flower bed with the Vulcan gesture and farewell greeting, “Live long and prosper!”

Returning to his office, he began to medi­tate about how often the spiritual Serpent (Revelation 12:7-9) has entered the Christian student center and how often he slithers into the church building, thinking he must be a regular vis­itor at both places. In fact, he’s been sliding into the homes and assemblies of the righteous for eons, inflicting pain, suffering, and death wherever he is not discovered and tossed out. How can we deal with the Serpent more effectively? A sim­ple plan would correspond to what one must do to keep that snake out of every righteous environment. * Prevent the Serpent from entering in the first place. There may be a ne­glected opening through which he en­ters again and again. Find it and stop it up. * Assume that he will be trying to get in or is in already. The Serpent likes nothing better than to sow dis­cord among believers (Galatians 5:16-26) or to cause saints to stumble (Luke 22:31-32). No doubt Christians are tops on his list of in­tended victims. * Look around for him. He may be right out in the open without notice. He may be hiding behind good intentions, competi­tion, or hurt pride. * If you find him, get rid of him imme­diately. The larger snakes grow, the more troublesome they become. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

[Galatians 6:1-2] “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

Wilbur Chapman tells of a distinguished minister who preached on sin. One of his leading members came to him and said, “Please don’t talk so plainly about sin. It will give our young ones the wrong idea. Call it a ‘mistake’ if you will.” The preacher took a bottle of strychnine that was marked ‘Poison’ and showed it to his visitor. He said, “I understand what you want me to do. You want me to change the label of ‘Sin’. Suppose I take the label off this bottle and replace it with a label that reads ‘oil of Anise’ or some other mild liquid. Can you see the danger in what you are asking me to do? The milder one makes the label, the more dangerous it makes the poison.” The world hardly recognizes sin anymore. It’s been replaced with far too many politically correct names to mellow its destruction.

Why is it that some people begin to object aloud, and some people are ready to ignore obvious sin? Why is it that when sins are obvious and public we sit and say nothing? Oh, my, did I step on some toes! Why is it that we will stand strong on some obvious sinful situations and say absolutely nothing about others that are even more obvious or egregious? Is it because we have our own man-made rating system of sins. We don’t look at all sin as bad. Some sin we seem to make allowance for. Some sin would require confronting people by which we are intimidated, so we let it slide rather than experiencing personal criticism. There are a lot of reasons we do so, but we aren’t consistent, are we? 

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). God expects us to deal with sin. Ignoring sin is not an option!

Let's Get Educated Again

 

A teacher asked one of her second-grade students, “If I gave you two cats, and another two cats, and another two, how many cats would you have?” Johnny answered, “Seven.” The teacher replied, “No. Now listen carefully. If I gave you two cats, plus another two cats, plus another two, how many cats would you have?” Johnny seriously answered, “Seven.” Frustrated the teacher said, “Let me put it to you differently. If I gave you two apples, plus another two apples, plus another two, how many apples would you have?” Johnny immediately answered, “Six.” Beaming, the teacher said, “Correct! Now if I gave you two cats, plus another two cats, plus another two, how many cats would you have?” Johnny answered, “Seven.” Confused, the teacher asked, “Johnny, where do you get seven from?” Johnny said with confidence, “Well, I’ve already got one cat at home.”

Two college students planned a trip to Australia during their winter break. Before leaving home, one of their dads gives them both a bit of advice: “You watch them Aussie cab drivers. They’ll rob you blind. You haggle the price with them.” At the Sydney airport, the students catch a cab to their hotel. When they reach their destination, the cabbie says, “That’ll be twenty dollars, lads.” “Oh no you don’t! My dad warned me about you. You’ll only be getting fifteen dollars from me,” says one of the students. “And you’ll only be getting fifteen from me too,” adds the other.

The world is changing every day and it’s not hard to focus on any given subject with pros and cons, acceptance, or rejection. Probably the hottest subject of the day is education, and the reactions of many groups is over the top with personal concerns ignoring the fact that our education institutions are failing our children in every area of education, placing our society far down the list of productive world participants. Just think. A century ago, when discipline and education was a priority at home and in school, intelligence shined, and pride grew with productivity. Today the only way to feel productive is to invent a cause to complain about - finding a way to shine a spotlight upon oneself - and draw money from other attention-getting fools. What ridiculous shameful people we have become as we act upon the world stage. Once upon a time we were known as a refined righteous society shining as a beacon of hope in a lost world. We ourselves have become lost in ignorance.

[Acts 17:11] Bible reading, though discouraged by some, is a wonderful privilege as well as an essential for Christian living. Being greater than any product of purely human genius, the Bible cannot but be a benefit to man. In studying the Scriptures man receives lasting blessings: 1. Strength. Who doesn’t need greater strength for the heavy loads of life? Proverbs 24:5 says, “A wise man is strong, Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength.” 2. Happiness. The common objective of human beings is to be happy. The Bible must be central in the search for happiness for success to be realized. Psalm 1:1-2 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law, he meditates day and night.” 3. The approval of God. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). No higher goal in life is there than to seek God’s favor.

Patrick Henry, near death, said “Here is a book, the Bible, worth more than all others that were ever printed; yet it is my misfortune never to have found time to read it.”

Reader, apply yourself to the Scriptures and then apply the Scriptures to your life (Galatians 3:26-28). The Bible needs to be, once again, the Book of home schooling.

God Made A Farmer

 

Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, (born Lorenzo Pietro Berra), May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015, was a professional MLB baseball catcher and outfielder for 19 seasons with ten World Series championship rings to his account. He also contributed his talents as a coach and manager for several years. Yogi has been renowned for his “Yogi-isms,” and I just like to throw in a few every now and then. * “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” * “You can observe a lot by watching.” * “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.” * “I never said most of the things I said.” * “Baseball is ninety percent mental, and the other half is physical.”

One of the great American radio broadcasters, Paul Harvey, September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009, will always be remembered for his short quips and witty stories that could make us laugh uncontrollably or be so heartwarming could bring a tear to our eye. He educated the world with, “The Rest of the Story” and shocked the world with his essay, “If I Were the Devil” in 1965. As a great philosopher of life, he shared many thought-provoking shorts of which my favorite is one he borrowed from Horace Porter, “There are far too many people in charge that are “educated beyond their intelligence.” Sad but true.

As I witness thievery of farmland and regulations driving the farmer out of business along with another apparent long season of draught ahead, I’m reminded of another Paul Harvey essay, “So God Made a Farmer.” (Admittedly, not Biblical, but one bringing honor to the hard-working soul of the farmer and his family without whom we could not survive.)

On the eighth day, God looked down on His planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farmer. God said, “I need somebody to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the schoolboard.” So God made a farmer. “I need someone with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Someone to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait for lunch until his wife’s done feeding, visit with ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon – and mean it.” So God made a farmer. God said, “I need someone willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt and watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, ‘Maybe next year.’ I need somebody who can shape an axe handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain’n from ‘tractor back’ put in another seventy-two hours.” So God made a farmer. God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place. So God made a farmer. God said, “I need someone strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be someone who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Someone to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish the hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church. Somebody who’d bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life ‘doing what dad does’” So God made a farmer. As Paul Harvy would say, “And now you know the rest of the story.”

No Rules - Just Right?

 

A young soldier left home on Army deployment overseas. He told his girlfriend he would write every day. After about six months, he received a letter from his girlfriend stating she was getting married. He wrote home wanting to know who she was marrying. The family wrote back and told him it was the…. mailman.

If a boy has a part-time job after school, he’s called “a go-getter.” If the church asks him to rise early on Saturday morning to spend a couple of hours doing some work for the Lord, people might say, “That’s asking too much!” If a woman were to work eight hours at some community project, people would say, “She’s a fine, energetic, public-minded person.” But if she were to work eight hours for the church, some would say, “Her religion has gone to her head!” If an employer asks an employee to work each day, and not be tardy, some people will say, “He’s a sensible businessman who requires that which is only right.” But if the elders of the church ask the members of the church to attend three services each week, and to please arrive on the scheduled time, some are ready to say, “You ask too much. And besides, it doesn’t matter if I’m on time to services anyway.

If one wants a good steak and baked potato, Outback Steakhouse, is probably a good choice. By now most have heard their advertisements on the radio and television. After making the pitch for their product, the announcer, in his Australian brogue, says, “Outback Steakhouse. No rules. Just right.” That sounds great, doesn’t it? There’s some appeal to a place where there aren’t any rules or restrictions and no matter what, everything turns out all right.

One day it dawned on me that many people have “Outback Religion.” When it comes to their relationship with God, they want it to be “No rules. Just right.” They want to be able to come to God on their own terms and yet have Him welcome them just the same. More and more it seems we find people, who find comforting the thought of having a meaningful relationship with God, who are unwilling to follow the rules. I suppose it has always been so that many wanted God on their terms, but it has always been true that Jehovah has never allowed mankind to call the shots or make the rules. Either we come to Him as He wills, or we don’t come at all. When one claims a relationship with God but want to keep their bad habits, and ungodly practices, and sinful relationships then what their looking for is an Outback Religion.

[Acts 20:25-30] But God does have “rules” and here are three things to remember about them. 1) “The Rules” Are God’s. The natural tendency is to “kill the messenger” but we must realize that if one is speaking the truth, he is only a messenger of the will of God. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (Jonn 14:21). To be sure, making our own rules is a violation of God’s will (Revelation 22:18), but just as wrong is the ignoring of God’s law (Revelation 22:19). 2) The Rules Are For Our Own Good. Ultimately, what God requires of us is in our best interest. Throughout the centuries of His dealings with mankind, God has never forbidden something good for man, nor has He required something harmful. 3) “The Rules” Will Judge Us. Whether we live by them or not, we will be eternally judged by the will of God. Jesus said, “He who rejects me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John12:48).

When we submit ourselves wholly to living by the will of God, “He cleanses us of our sins” (1 John 1:7-9). One might say, when we live by God’s rules, He makes us just right.

Who Owns the Church?

 

Sometimes people will ask me about my church. They assume since I am a minis­ter (“the pastor”) of the church of Christ, that somehow, I have some ownership or say over it. Members do that too. We remark ‘at my church’ or ‘come to my church.’ It might just be a slip of the tongue, but we need to work to correct it. Because it is not ‘our’ church, and that is a particularly good thing! The church of me wouldn’t be a good one. Oh, it might be likable enough, it could be entertaining, and it might have the community’s approval. The church of me could be growing and financially stable but it doesn’t have enough.

You see churches come at a cost. In order to have a group of redeemed, you must have a redeemer. A sacrifice to pay the cost. And I don’t have enough in me. A church founded on me cannot save because I can’t save myself, much less anyone else. Jesus was the only one sin­less, the only one with the blood pure enough to make that purchase. He said He would build His church (Matthew 16:18) and place the saved into it (Acts 2:47). That is the church one should seek.

Many have tried to steal Jesus’ church from Him and make it their own. But the minute He isn’t the head of the church; it ceases to be His. If it is my church, it can’t be His. Any other church, no matter how pretty it is on the outside, is lacking the core of what matters, sal­vation. I don’t want any part of my church; I only want to be a part of His!

[Joshua 24:15] The remainder of this article is being met with much displeasure these days. I am sorry to say it, but many do not like to hear about it. People don’t like the description. They think it is exclusionary, arrogant, and egotistical. For example, when someone asks me what church I am a member of, I often reply, “I am a member of the Lord’s church.” Perhaps I might say, “I am a member of the church you can read about in the Bible.” Again, I could say, “I am a member of the body of Christ,” or of the “church of Christ.” Much of the time the last one gives them what they want. Now they can categorize me into their own opinion about what they think I believe.

Let’s examine that within the light of the Scriptures. What does the Bible say about the idea of The Lord’s church? [Matthew 16:18] “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock (the solid rock truth of Peter’s confession stated in v.16 “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” [Acts 2:47] “…the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” [Acts 20:28] “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” [Ephesians 1:22-23] “And he put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” [Ephesians 5:23-25] “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” So, if the Lord built the church, is head of the church, and if the church is His body, and it is subject to Him in everything, doesn’t it make sense that it belongs to Him? I think the real problem lies with those who have attempted to organize a “church” to be something other than the Lord’s. Unfortunately, many have accomplished that goal. But as for me and my house, we will continue to let the church be His and urge and teach others to flow into it. I am not, nor will I ever be, a member of the unscriptural, hedonistic “United” church of Christ. Amen!